Warts are pesky skin lesions caused by viruses, which can make them difficult to eliminate. Your body's immune system could kick in and kill your warts at any point. But if you do not want to wait for this to happen, you can take steps to get rid of them. Plantar warts often appear on the bottoms of feet and can be rather painful. However, they are easier to eliminate than many other types of warts.
Instructions
1. Choose a salicylic acid product with an appropriate concentration for your skin type. Generally wart treatments contain 17 to 40 percent concentrations of salicylic acid.
2. Apply the salicylic acid to a small area on your foot to be sure you will not have adverse effects. If after 24 hours you have no adverse reaction (swelling, itching, red bumps), then it is safe to use the treatment.
3. Soak your foot in warm water for a few minutes before applying the salicylic acid. If you soften your skin, the medication will be better able to penetrate the wart.
4. Keep the treated area covered with bandages. This is important, because occlusion (suffocation) plays a key role in killing the virus. The treatment also causes inflammation to occur at the site of your wart. Keeping it covered will prevent further irritation and discomfort.
5. Soak your foot in warm water and let the skin soften. Gently "peel" the dead skin away, so that you are not simply applying your treatment to dead skin. Over the course of a few days, you may find that the salicylic acid has dried out your foot and left a lot of rough, dead skin underneath the bandage. Be careful to always wash your hands before and after touching your plantar wart to avoid infecting the treated area.
6. See a dermatologist to be sure that your skin lesion is, in fact, a plantar wart. If your doctor agrees that it is a plantar wart, he or she will likely recommend a new treatment method such as cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen) or a topical treatment that is available through prescription, called imiquimoid (brand name: Aldara). These methods are a bit more harsh, and should be tried only if the salicylic acid method fails.
Tags: salicylic acid, your foot, dead skin, plantar wart, your skin, foot warm, foot warm water